High court will not hear killer's intellectual disability claim

By Allan Turner |
June 10, 2014
| Updated: June 10, 2014 10:48am

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to consider Houston convicted killer Robert James Campbell's claim that he is intellectually disabled and, therefore, ineligible for execution.

His lawyer on Tuesday said the high court's decision was "entirely expected" and does not affect a second so-called Atkins claim to be heard in a Houston federal court.

An earlier story in the Houston Chronicle, based, in part, on reportage by The Associated Press, erroneously reported that the Supreme Court had declined to consider an appeal seeking information concerning the source of the drug used in executions. That appeal remains active.

Campbell, 41, was convicted of the 1991 murder of Alexandra Rendon, 20, a Houston bank teller. Rendon was abducted as she fueled her car at a service station near her southwest Houston apartment. Her body, shot in the back, was found days later in a Harris County field.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stayed Campbell's May execution to allow his legal team time to present evidence concerning intellectually disability. Attorney Rob Owen argued that his client's low score on an IQ test and his inability to function well in daily life indicated he was intellectually disabled. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the Harris County District Attorney's Office had given Campbell's earlier lawyers incomplete or inaccurate information.

The appeal related to the 5th Court stay is active, and the case soon will be heard in a Houston federal court.

The appeal rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, based on the same claims, had been filed in response to a decision by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that barred consideration of the issue.